Back in the late 1980s, Steve Leonard was living in Southern California and thought he wanted to work for a fire department, maybe as a firefighter. When a friend asked if he would consider working in fire protection design, it changed Steve’s direction and sent him off on a 30-year journey into the world of fire protection.

“No one is born with a passion for sprinklers or alarms, it’s usually a series of twists and turns that bring people into the fire protection industry,” Steve explained. “I didn’t think about fire protection when I was a kid, but I’m glad that my career path led me into this field.”

At McKinstry, we’ve offered fire protection services for decades because identifying and installing the right protection system to prevent or reduce fire damage is fundamental to every project we undertake. McKinstry has built a national reputation for designing and installing fire protection systems for a wide variety of venues—from office, retail, and hotel buildings to stadiums, laboratories, and museums. Owners and designers come to McKinstry for our expertise on systems, costs, and knowledge of all current fire codes and compliance standards for the National Fire Protection Association.

Steve’s fire protection path has been extremely unique at McKinstry. Since joining the company in 2010, he’s lived and worked in three of McKinstry’s major Pacific Northwest offices—Portland, Spokane and Seattle.

“I sometimes joke that I’ve completed the trifecta,” Steve said. “Working in three of our Pacific Northwest offices has been a pleasure, and they all have a different atmosphere that’s still connected by the common McKinstry culture.”

Hello! My name is Andrea Mills and I’m a recent college graduate from Gonzaga University. I came to McKinstry for an internship with the Enterprise Sales and Marketing team. I wanted to gain more experience and learn about the built environment. I’d always had an interest in buildings and the people who build them, but I never really knew where to start.

Thankfully, my internship helped me decide where to go and how to get there. In fact, I was promoted at the end of my internship—I’m now a business operations coordinator for our Seattle-based Energy team.

Over the course of my internship, I developed my marketing skills and began to wrap my head around the construction industry. I tackled many different kinds of projects: Polishing employee resumes, creating marketing materials and even conducting marketing research on solar power. I found the B.L.U.E. Program to be the best kind of trial and error—it was helpful to figure out my strengths and weaknesses and find out what I’m passionate about as an intern. Now I can apply and act on that knowledge as an employee.

McKinstry is a proud supporter of the Skills that Shine mentorship program offered through the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship (WSOS), which provides both scholarships and mentoring for college students from low- and middle-income households majoring in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

As part of the program, I’ve volunteered as a mentor for several talented scholars—sharing my experiences and coaching them as they transition towards a professional career. Over a similar period, McKinstry’s engineering department has hired a robust cadre of young engineers who are each uniquely talented and passionate about delivering high-performing buildings for our clients.

The infusion of young talent—combined with a deep bench of experienced engineers—has paid serious dividends for our engineering team. As we continue to grow, recruiting just the right people to contribute to this culture can be tricky, especially in Seattle’s competitive labor market. Working with the WSOS scholars and sitting in on some recent interviews prompted me to think about what I’ve learned from some of my co-workers who’ve deeply impressed me.

Wayzata School District in Minnesota isn’t afraid of creative ways to save energy. The suburban district located 13 miles west of Minneapolis is a longtime powerED participant at each of its eight elementary schools, three middle schools and one high school.

Wayzata School District students excel because they have access to enthusiastic teachers that know how important it is for students and parents to get engaged. More than 10,000 teachers, students and parents have pledged to cut energy waste since engaging in McKinstry’s powerED program. That call to action has paid off. The district has reduced energy consumption by 26 percent and avoided more than 5,600 metric tons of carbon emissions.

On October 30, Oakwood Elementary is taking energy savings one scary step further in a combined Halloween and Energy Action Month celebration. For one “spooky day,” the school will keep as many lights off as possible to raise awareness and demonstrate action.

Grab your flashlight and watch the energy savings roll in!

Join McKinstry and our clients as we celebrate Energy Action Month by pledging to take action. If you think you can’t affect the future of energy consumption, you’re wrong. It takes all of us, every day, taking actions small and big. Together, we CAN build a thriving planet.

This week’s Energy Action Month employee spotlight is on Adam Klein, program manager for McKinstry! Starting in 2016, Adam took the initiative—along with Daniel Shaw, a Portland-based energy engineer—to obtain ENERGY STAR certifications for McKinstry-owned office buildings in Seattle and Portland.

Compared with their peers, an ENERGY STAR-certified office building uses (on average) 35 percent less energy, generates 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, costs $0.54 less per square foot to operate and has higher rental & occupancy rates. Adam joined McKinstry as an intern more than 12 years ago. Today, he is the program manager for McKinstry’s Technical Services Western Washington Annuity.

Q: Tell me about your role as an annuity program manager. What does a typical day look like?
A: As a program manager, my typical day involves going over client utility billing and Building Automation System interval data to review where successful low/no cost improvements have been made and to make new recommendations. Often there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work required to gather and update information to keep a steady stream of data coming.

Q: I understand you received some good news earlier this year about our 2018 ENERGY STAR scores for our office buildings in Seattle and Portland, right?
A: To be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification, a building must earn an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher, indicating that it performs better than at least 75 percent of similar buildings nationwide. The most recent work was completed this spring, and I’m happy to say that McKinstry achieved an ENERGY STAR score of 92 for the 220 S. Dawson Street office building in Seattle and a score of 96 for the 5005 3rd Ave. S. office building in Seattle. Our Portland office building received an 88. The EPA-run certification is rated on a 100-point scale. I’m proud of our scores and grateful for the Workspace Solutions Team and other internal partners who help make it happen.

Environmental conservation and corporate social responsibility has been the focus of Amanda Provenzano’s college experience and career. After graduating from Dominican University with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and earning a Master of Environmental Pollution Control at The Pennsylvania State University, she held various sustainability roles for LUSH, ALDI and JELD-WEN prior to joining McKinstry in February 2018 in the newly created position of sustainability coordinator.

Q: What types of projects do you work on in a typical day?
A: One of the things I love about my job is that there’s never a typical day because I work with so many people, groups and organizations. I’m currently working on several exciting programs that employees will be hearing about soon, such as an alternative commute program and resource conservation program companywide. I’ve also enjoyed the opportunity to help employees work more comfortably and productively through our ergonomics program.

The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) turned to McKinstry to identify energy-saving measures spanning 1.3 million square feet of campus space and 18 buildings on campus. The effort also included powerED, McKinstry’s behavior-focused energy management program, to boost their sustainability goals.

UNC leveraged powerED to challenge students, staff and faculty to take action in eliminating waste and reducing energy use. A steering committee of more than 25 students and staff assembled to guide the program, and members of UNC’s Green Team volunteered to lead various activities such as a carbon cube demonstration and building energy use tours. Much of the effort focused on demonstrating how small changes – such as turning off lights, unplugging unnecessary electronics, system improvements and conserving energy – can make a big difference.

More than 800 students and staff signed up for a People.Power.Planet account at UNC, checking off over 1,800 routine and 150 key actions to save energy. Through this effort and close collaboration with the facilities team and other departments, UNC has since reduced energy use by 25 percent campus-wide and avoided $1,335,000 in associated energy costs.

“We use more than a third less energy than an average school,” said Mark Korinek, director of operations services for the Carson City School District. “As a district, we recently reduced our Energy Use Intensity (EUI) from 46 to 41. The 46 EUI number last year, down from 49 in 2014, was really remarkable to begin with, but to see a decrease even from there is truly a testament to our retrofit project and McKinstry’s energy-awareness and behavioral change program called powerED.”

The powerED program engages students and staff across the district in energy, water and waste conservation efforts. The program promotes energy efficiency and how to eliminate waste within facilities, ultimately helping the district save money. Much of this effort is focused on demonstrating to students and staff how small changes—such as turning off lights, biking to school, recycling and composting, shutting off unused electronics and buying locally produced items—can make a difference in their lives every day.

Sylvia McIvor joined McKinstry in March of 2018. Based out of our Chicago office, Sylvia is a senior account executive with the Illinois Energy Services team. In her role, she manages the development of business strategies for education and municipal customers in the Midwest region.

Q: Why did you choose McKinstry?
A: What drew me to McKinstry was the company’s cutting-edge view on sustainability as well as the environmental leadership and stewardship. There is so much opportunity here to grow the business, help our customers reduce their environmental impact and make a difference while doing it.

Q: I understand you are involved in the Climate Reality Project. Tell me more about that.
A: I’m fortunate to be working for a company (McKinstry) that supported me in applying for the opportunity, and I was thrilled to have been accepted into the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training. I was one of more than 2,200 attendees who joined former Vice President Al Gore in Los Angeles from Aug. 28-30 of this year (see the collage image above) to learn how to help lead the global fight for climate solutions.

It was a life-changing and awe-inspiring three days. The information and data presented were eye-opening, compelling and frightening, but also very hopeful. If we take action now to address carbon emissions, we can stop the damage and help the planet heal itself.

The new school year ushers in Green Team kickoffs for powerED schools across the country. Tahoma School District in Maple Valley, Wash. kicked the year in gear last week with Green Team meetings at schools like Maple View Middle.

Tahoma School District serves more than 8,200 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The district is recognized as innovative in its development and use of curriculum, including a focus on sustainability across all grade levels. Test scores place Tahoma students among Washington’s top five percent on average!

To date, more than 20,500 teachers, students and family members nationwide have pledged to save energy and cut waste through McKinstry’s powerED program. That action has reduced energy consumption 17 percent district wide and avoided 918 metric tons of carbon emissions. Maple View Middle is responsible for an amazing 358 metric tons of carbon avoided—nearly 40 percent of the district’s total!

Congratulations to Tahoma School District and Maple View Middle, and best of luck for another successful Green Team year!

Join McKinstry and our clients as we celebrate Energy Action Month by pledging to take action. If you think you can’t affect the future of energy consumption, you’re wrong. It takes all of us, every day, taking actions small and big. Together, we CAN build a thriving planet.